Pointed Discussion

Noble Hierarch would be much better for the Green and White mana, while Druid of the Anima would be better for the G/W/R mana.

What makes this card very significant in a Naya colored deck though, is that it could turn any mana of any color into R/W mana at will, but it is done once someone kills it. Enchantment destruction isn't nearly as common, so I would just use a Prismatic Omen.

This is strictly better than druid of anima because if you need red or white from it you can tap it and channel the green mana it produces through its own ability in addition to allowing you to filter all of your other mana including mana from nonland sources such as ashnod's altar. noble hierarch is better but only because it costs 1 less. For the record, I'd rather use Skyshroud Elf than prismatic omen in a rgw deck, because it's much better at mana fixing than the aforementioned.

I like this a lot. It can convert mana from Channel into colored mana.

In these days of blatant powercreep, it's nice to see a brother of rath block outpower Druid of the Anima.

Prismatic Omen, let's you change the mana produced from your basic lands, and also lets your advanced lands produce mana if they otherwise didn't.
Skyshroud Elf, let's you have your mana be directly changed, for situations like Cloudpost, Braid of Fire, Ashnod's Altar, and other effects. Also adds one mana.

If the logic of, for objective a, choose either enchantment or creature is to choose enchantment because creature's die easier, then why don't we only make enchantment decks? Or we could, yknow, use that one extra green mana from skyshroud to pop a withstand death. One extra turn should definitely last you long enough to get your usage out of him.

Of course, I'm not hating on Prismatic Omen, it definitely has it's uses, it's not a strictly better or worse, they do different things. Prismatic changes the mana producers to produce any mana, Skyshroud funnels any mana into the mana of your choice(of W or R). Everflowing Chalice recieves no benefit from Prismatic Omen, Skyshroud does give benefit. Draco recieves beneifts from Prismatic Omen, Skyshroud does not give benefit.

Also, this card is, in my opinion, far better than the other two elves. Why? Because it functions both as a mana producer, and as a mana filter. For another example of a mana filter, look at Cascade Bluffs. It's a land that can turn a regular land into an advanced land. That + island = 2 red mana. Similiarly, with Skyshroud elves, you can base a GWR as mostly G, and even get a Primalcrux, and still be able to cast your R and W spells.

Druid of the Anima is strictly worse. People may forget, but the second ability does not require tapping to use, nor does it have a limit to the number of uses. You can even use the first ability to pay for the second, effectively making the text:

: Add , , or to your mana pool.
: Add or to your mana pool.

Equip him with a Runed Stalactite to make him an elemental, then play Ceaseless Searblades and activate the filter ability with itself a few thousand times for huge Searblades.

I run this guy in a casual Dragon tribal deck; it fixes my mana for Rith, the Awakener (and Rorix Bladewing if I'm coming up short on the ).

I also run him in basically every deck I build.

Definitely one of the neatest mana elves in the game. Too bad the name makes it so hard to reprint.

This can convert
into .

Goes Infinite with Mana Reflection

Joiner Adept or Bloom Tender are typically better for the mana cost as elves.

Ah Elfball decks with Armageddons, memories.

DaJoshmaster: no, it doesn't mana reflection requires the permanent to tap to produce the mana. What you're thinking would work only if it doubled any mana produced.

nevertheless, an awesome card and well deserving of 4.5/5 for its efficiency and utility.

It took me a bit to realize why it's better than Druid of the Anima, but better it definitely is. Not just a mana producer, but a mana converter!

Besides rare dual-lands etc. this is some of the best fixing out there. Turn 3 Dawn Elemental in mono-green? Sure, no problem. I don't see a reason not to play him in any midrange/lategame deck in RG, RW, or RGW. You get to consider playing a lot of cards that otherwise you would have said "I'm not sure if my manabase can support that". Yes, I suppose there are better cards in the niche, but as a common from tempest, it acquits itself extremely well. There are a lot of variations on the 2-mana "llanowar elves with something extra" such as werebear, heart warden, and devoted druid. This is definitely up there.

Also remember that Joiner Adept doesn't tap for mana, and Bloom Tender doesn't fix your colors.

I'll never forget the turn I dropped this and disenchanted my opponent's Blood Moon